ROCHESTER — A fundraiser will be held at Uno Chicago Grill on St. Patrick’s Day to raise money for Catherine Ramsdell’s Tour de Cure team.

Having only just been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last month, Catherine, 9, of Rochester, has already put herself on a team to race to find a cure for the disease she now has to face daily.

Catherine will be the youngest member of the team, “The Works Rides,” where she will bike alongside her mother and her grandmother, and if the fundraiser goes well, her father, too.

The fundraiser is being planned by friends of friends of the Ramsdells and will have Irish step dancers, raffles and 20 percent of the meals going toward the team’s ride.

Each team member is required to raise a minimum of $200.

Catherine’s mother, Wendy, said the community has been overwhelmingly kind since her daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last month. After several signs leading toward diabetes, it was the night of Jan. 28, when Catherine was throwing up, that Wendy decided to bring her daughter to the hospital to see what was going on.

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Catherine Ramsdell, 9, of Rochester, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last month and will be the youngest on her Tour de Cure racing team this summer.

“I thought she might have had a virus,” Wendy said. “When we got her to the hospital, we were told her blood sugar was over 400 and she was really, really sick.”

“All the symptoms were there, we just did not think it was possible,” Wendy said of before Catherine was diagnosed. After four days in the hospital, Catherine left fully prepared to adjust her daily lifestyle in order to manage her blood sugar.

“She is my hero,” Wendy said. “She has been amazing. It is kind of like, this is just a routine, we can do this.”

Wendy said an article printed in Foster’s Daily Democrat last month featuring Miss Strafford County’s Outstanding Teen Caroline Carter, who is a diabetic, helped her and her daughter adjust to the changes.

“After explaining to her what diabetes was and what we would have to do now, she looked up at me and said, ‘Mommy, am I still going to be pretty?’” Wendy said, adding she showed Catherine the article and the photo of Caroline, which made Catherine feel more at ease. Caroline invited Catherine over to her home just last week to make cookies and to talk about the few life changes she will have to make.

“Since day one, my husband and I have said that we’d be a mess if she was having a hard time,” Wendy said of her daughter. “But, she is doing her own insulin shots, finger sticks and has already started with family, explaining what she has to do. She is doing great, which makes it really easy for us.”

The fundraiser, which takes place on March 17 from 11 a.m. to midnight at Uno’s, will be in support of Catherine’s Tour de Cure team. They will be biking in Kennebunk, Maine on June 9. At this time, Wendy has received a half dozen items for the raffle and is looking for more to make the event a success.